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Resistance type: rebellion in a
ghetto |
Country:Lithuania |
Yitzhak Wittenberg
was the first commander of the P.P.O. Following an interrogation and subsequent
betrayal by a communist activist, Gestapo officers demanded that the Jews turn
over the leader of the underground – or they would destroy the ghetto. The
following story brings the affair that shook the Jewish underground movement in
the Vilna ghetto
Wittenberg,
all
rights reserved to
Yad Vashem
With the establishment of the P.P.O. in early 1942 (see separate
item), 35-year-old Yitzhak Wittenberg was appointed to lead the resistance. With
him, as part of the staff were: Yossef Glazman, Avraham (Abrasha) Havoynic and
Aba Kovner.
The ghetto undergrounds had ties with the Communist Party
outside the ghetto. In early 1943, a Polish communist by the name of Kozlovsky
was captured by the Gestapo. The Polish communist broke under extreme torture
and divulged the name of another partisan, the Lithuanian, Vitas. Vitas was also
caught and tortured and gave the Gestapo the name ofWittenberg. On the night
of July 15th, Wittenberg and his comrades were called in by
Gens and Desler, Head of the Judenrat and Chief of the Jewish Police. According
to the testimony of Aba Kovner in the Eichmann trial: “We were informed that the
meeting was to take place at a certain hour, then this was postponed and we were
told the meeting wouldl take place at 10 that evening. We arrived at the offices
of the Chief of Police […] we felt something was going to happen”. For
precaution, the underground members placed watchmen opposite the Judenrat
building. After several minutes of conversation, a side door opened from the
office of the Head of the Juderat and in the doorway stood SS men with drawn
pointed machine guns. “Who is Wittenberg?” they asked. Desler pointed at the
underground leader who was handcuffed and arrested on the
spot.
“Lowly traitors, we shall meet” shouted the stunned underground
members at Gens and Desler.
“I
am not to blame; your man was caught by the Gestapo. He gave Wittenberg’s name and I
must deliver him or others will pay with their lives” said Gens.
The watchmen posted outside attacked the Gestapo, liberated their
commander and called for reinforcements. The fighters carried Wittenberg to a hideout.
The Germans informed Gens that if Wittenberg was not delivered to them by 3 am,
they would destroy the ghetto.
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organization was mobilized to defend its leader and as a counter measure,
Gens rallied the Jewish police and another group of strongmen. In the
meanwhile, turmoil erupted in the ghetto. The crowds demanded that the
commander be handed over. The crowds attacked the underground members with
blows and stones wounding some and taking eight others hostage. The
rioters were pushed back without the use of firearms as per the
instructions from HQ not to use force against Jews. It should be noted
that, that night no German was present in the ghetto.
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All
rights reserved to Yad Vashem |
The choice was clear: surrendering Wittenberg or civil war. The HQ members looked
silently at their commander. Some say that they suggested to Gens to hand over
an unidentified body to the Germans and claim that it was that of Wittenberg. Gens refused
this suggestion for fear that the interrogated Kozlovsky would realize the
fraud. Wittenberg looked at his gun and thought of
taking his life, but held back.
The commander asked: “Do you want me to turn myself in?” after a
silence Aba Kovner said: “See here, Jews are lining the streets. We will have to
fight them to get to the enemy […] give us the order and we will fight. Are you
ready for that?” No, he was not. He handed his pistol to Kovner and appointed
the 25 year old in his place.
Wittenberg turned himself in. The next day,
July 16th, he was found dead in his cell. The poison he had swallowed
had prevented the torture.
In an interview Aba Kovner gave 40 years later he said:
“In
retrospect, as a young man wearing a partisan’s uniform and grasping a gun in
hand, I thought we ought to have tempted fate and tried to sneak Wittenberg out of the
ghetto, come what may. But if you ask the adult Aba Kovner, in the State of
Israel in 1984, what he thinks of the matter now – I am not ashamed to say that
this is one of the highlights of the Jewish undergrounds’ acts of courage, by
not provoking a situation of civil rebellion between Jews in the
ghetto”.
Based
on:
·
“The test of retort and redemption: the pioneer
movements in Poland in the Holocaust and after 1939-1945” Volume 1 – by Levi
Arye Sarid. Published by Moreshet, Tel Aviv,
1997.
·
The testimony of Aba Kovner in the Eichmann
trial, the Snunit
website.
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